I Drew You Once in Art Class

Eighty-Two

The Date:

December 18th.

6 days before the dance.

There was a knock on Frank's bedroom door.

"Hey, Frank. You feeling better?"

Frank was still asleep.

"Frank!" His mom pushed open the door.

"Frank, wake up. No sleeping past 11, remember?"

Frank scrunched up his face and grumbled. Millie was in her little tan dog bed, wagging her tail, excited that all of her people were in the same room.

"Why?" Frank groaned. He just wanted to keep sleeping so he didn't have to talk to Gerard today.

"I have errands to run, I need you to take Millie to the dog park."

"Okay. Just... just ten more minutes. Then I'll go."

"Now, Frank. Why don't you see if Gerard wants to go?"

Frank's stomach dropped.

"Um, he's busy today. He has to go see, um, his grandparents."

"Oh. Well, she needs to get some exercise, all she's been doing is sleeping lately."

Frank grumbled. "Okay, mom."

**

Frank was wearing blue jeans and a Misfits T-shirt with a gray long sleeve underneath. His lip had mostly healed by now, his mom having forced him to take out the piercing, and his hair was getting long and beginning to curl. He grabbed a gray hat before latching an excited Millie to her leash and walking to the park. The snow from last night carpeted the ground, and Millie left small paw prints behind her as she pranced, her tongue hanging out of her mouth and her tail wagging.

The park was near the grocery store, not at all a far walk. When Frank got to the gate, he pulled it open and unleashed Millie. "Go play, little girl."

Millie bounded off toward some other little old dogs her size. Frank sat down on the nearest bench, dusting off the snow, and sat looking at all the dogs.

"I see you around here quite a bit."

Frank started and looked to his left. A girl was sitting next to him, one leg crossed over the other. She was wearing black boots and a long sweater. She had shoulder-length, vibrantly dyed red hair and carefully winged eyeliner.

"I'm Hayley. That little old dog is yours, right?"

Frank was taken a little by surprise. How long had she been watching him?

"Um, yeah. That's Millie. Which one is yours?"

Hayley pointed. "That one, with the curly brown fur. His name is Alf. He's probably, like, the only reason I'm still alive."

Wow, okay. Personal.

Frank laughed awkwardly.

Hayley shut her eyes, frustrated. "Sorry, I'm not very good at talking to people. Sorry."

"It's fine, don't worry. Do you go to school around here?"

Hayley looked insulted. "I go to Lakeside. I'm in three of your classes, Frank."

Despite the cold, Frank's face heated up. "Sorry. I don't talk to a lot of people."

"I know."

Alright then.

"You're friends with that Gerard kid."

Frank's stomach twinged again. "Yeah, but we're sort of in a fight right now. I don't know what to do, though, because I don't really have other friends I can talk to about it."

Hayley cocked her head to the side. "Of course you do." She then pulled a pink Sharpie out of her bag, snatched Frank's hand ("aah!") and wrote a number on the pale skin.

This clicked a little something in his brain.

"Hey, now I remember you! You were the one who got in that big fight with Mr. Whatever because he didn't want you to write with the Sharpie!"

Hayley started twiddling the Sharpie between her pointer and middle finger. "I was hoping no one remembered that."

"That was on the first day of Chem, right?"

"Yeah. It's still an issue, he harasses me about it, like, every class."

"Well, why don't you use a pencil?"

"I only want to use this. Writing with something else won't work."

"Oh. Sorry that he's an ass about it, then."

"I'm used to it." She turned to face Alf, who was now happily sniffing some other dog's butt.

"Do you want to go get coffee?"

Frank looked toward the dogs. "Aren't we not supposed to leave the-"

"What do you think I am, stupid? There's a dog-friendly coffee place right around here."

Frank jumped a little at her crass, but he guessed he should have been used to it by now.

The pair collected their dogs, who walked side by side, their tails wagging as Frank and Hayley walked to the coffee shop.

A woman at the counter, Black with hair pulled back in a multicolored headband, turned around at the tinkly sound of the bell. Her face brightened when she saw Hayley. "Hey, girl! It's been a while. You want your usual, right?" Hayley nodded. The woman turned to Frank. "And for you?"

"Um, a hot chocolate please."

Hayley turned to face him. "Not a coffee person?"

"Not really. You come here a lot, then?"

"All the time. Jada and I are good friends."

The woman, Jada, handed Hayley what appeared to be regular coffee with milk in it. "And here's your hot chocolate." She handed Frank a pink mug.

The coffee shop was a nice place, with pretty stained glass windows at the booths, which had little cushions on them. There was art hung up all over, and antique-looking chandeliers dangling from the ceiling. Hayley walked to a booth and removed the cushion before sitting cross-legged on the wood.

"So. Why are you in a fight with Gerard?"

Frank sat down on the squashy blue cushion. "Well, um, he has this ex..."

The two sat in the coffee shop for a long time, long past when both of their mugs were drained.

"Okay, well it sounds like you're both in the wrong. He thinks you're being a jealous bitch, and you think you are excluded from a big chunk of his life."

Frank raised his eyebrows. "That about sums it up."

"I think he owes you an apology."

"Really?"

"Yes. He was the one acting weird, and the one who made a lot of assumptions with no context."

"Yes! Okay, that's what I thought!"

A growling came from underneath the table. Hayley peaked under. "I think Millie needs to go outside."

"Probably. And I should probably get home anyway, my mom's probably getting worried."

"Well, if you want to talk about it any more, or you just want to hang out, you have my number."

Frank smiled. "Thank you."

"Anytime."